Environmentalist Louie Porta to Lead the CEC’s Joint Public Advisory Committee
Montreal, 12 January 2022—We are pleased to announce that leading Canadian environmentalist Louie Porta will chair the Commission for Environmental Cooperation’s (CEC) Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) for 2022.
Louie Porta is the Executive Director of Oceans North, one of Canada’s largest ocean-focused charities. Louie has spent his career working with Indigenous and coastal communities in Canada and internationally, to advocate for a healthy, abundant ocean for generations to come.
Porta previously served as lead political advisor to Mary Simon, Canada’s first Indigenous Governor General, in her capacity as Minister’s Special Representative for Arctic Leadership. He serves on the Governing Council for the Ocean Tracking Network and is also a senior advisor to the International Institute on Sustainable Development. He has published many articles on the threats facing the future of our ocean.
Porta will chair the CEC’s advisory committee in the coming year as the body holds public consultations in the three countries on pressing environmental matters of global concern.
“The Commission for Environmental Cooperation is critical to continental environmental cooperation,” said Porta. “I am looking forward to working with the members of the Joint Public Advisory Committee from Mexico, Canada and the United States to make strong, impactful connections between sustainability, trade, and the day-to-day issues people are facing.”
Following its public consultations, JPAC provides advice to the CEC Council, made up of North America’s top, federal-level environmental officials, and is composed of nine citizen volunteers (three from each country). It advises the Council on any matter within the scope of the trinational Environmental Cooperation Agreement.
The JPAC Chair is elected for a one-year term and by rotation from among the three countries’ members. JPAC meets throughout the year in different North American locations, typically in conjunction with CEC events.
For more information about the CEC’s Joint Public Advisory Committee, visit www.cec.org/jpac.
About the CEC
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) was established in 1994 by the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States through the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, a parallel environmental agreement to NAFTA. As of 2020, the CEC is recognized and maintained by the Environmental Cooperation Agreement, in parallel with the new Free Trade Agreement of North America. The CEC brings together a wide range of stakeholders, including the general public, Indigenous people, youth, nongovernmental organizations, academia, and the business sector, to seek solutions to protect North America’s shared environment while supporting sustainable development for the benefit of present and future generations
The CEC is governed and funded equally by the Government of Canada through Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Government of the United States of Mexico through the Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, and the Government of the United States of America through the Environmental Protection Agency.